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Wednesday, June 08, 2005

Sith Notes...

Sorry that I'm a bit late to this party, but I didn't get the chance to see it until today. After reading everyone's comments (that I avoided to miss SPOILERS) here are some of my thoughts.

-I would buy the argument about the Death Star being built faster in the future if I thought that Lucas had this in mind where he put it in the script. I don't think he ever had a thought about how long it takes to build a Death Star.

-Yes, Lucas puts butts in seats... the 70's era Lucas. This new one would have nothing without that legacy.

-Regarding suspension of disbelief, I can believe a lot of crazy stuff if it is consistent. Give me the rules of the fantastic world you are creating, and then live within those rules. After watching this film, I have few ideas of the true powers and limits to that power that a Jedi can have, and so I don't know what rules are supposed to be being followed. Made the movie very confusing.

-My biggest disappointment of the film is Anakin's "gradual" change into Darth Vader. As Jonathan said, one minute he's asking "What have I done?", and the next he's pledging his allegiance to the dark side and choppin' up kids. Doing this well could have forgiven a number of sins, but having blown this, these last three movies are basically a waste.

-Is it just me, or were there a number of awful moments where characters were needlessly given silly comments or noises to make it appeal to kids? Like Chewbacca coming in sounding like Tarzan? It reminded me of when Fox Sports annoyingly started adding sound effects to their highlight reels. The best way to appeal to kids is to tell a great story understandably, like the original Star Wars, not to make silly noises.

-On the higher ground argument... if the higher ground was so important, why didn't Anakin try to keep him from gaining the higher ground? And why didn't it come into play in the numerous fight scenes we'd seen before? If you can jumps yards in the air, you can find higher ground somewhere. Does that automatically mean you've won the battle?

-Yes, at times the movie was visually appealing... too much so. I want stories, not dramatic scenes of fictional cities. A nice set never makes up for a poor movie.

-I think that the worst part for me is that there is a good movie in here somewhere. With different direction and a new script writer, you can take the basics of the story and run with it. Think of this in the hands of a good director: Anakin is led by his teacher Obi-Won, and slowly comes to be his equal in power. He loves and impregnates his wife, but must keep their love secret. He falls under the influence of his country's leader, whom he and many others believe to more-or-less okay. Of course he is not, and Skywalker wrestles with his conscious over which side is right, eventually making his decision based on his love for his wife. His poor decision betrays his mentor and brings tyranny to the galaxy while still losing his wife to death. But, their children live to create the next chapters of the tale. A classic tragedy whose power we were cheated of. There is enough material here to make a film that is fantastic, which is the biggest tragedy of all.

6 Comments:

Mike, I think you're dead on with the assessment that there's a good movie in there. I agree completely. But Lucas is, I believe, incapable of pulling that movie out. Hire a writer...hire a director...let them tell your great story...and far fewer of us would have complaints.

Glad you finally caught it. I hadn't realized you'd been avoiding the comments until now...that must have been tough.

And your Ewoks joke in the post below this one made me spit out my coffee...thanks a lot.

I forgot about the Ewoks cartoon; wasn't there also one called "Droids"? There were also those "Classic" t.v. "Ewok" Movies with Wilford Brimley. I forgot all the dreck Lucas has spit out since 1983. We haven't even mentioned "Howard the Duck," but I guess enough people have. Anyways, here here, Mike. I agree wholeheartedly.

No, I really did like it. It had potential, but all the complaints above are what ruins the magic just a little bit. And that's exactly right - Lucas fills up theaters. But if it weren't for the OT, these prequels would never have done as well as they did. Simply because we fans kept hoping it would "get better".